Sarang took a step back and examined her work. She couldn’t help but smile at the look of it all, ignoring the sweat that had been accumulating on her face, the back of her neck, and her armpits. That gross, grimy feeling was worth it for this project.

“Holy . Did you buy out a toy store or something?!” Sarang jumped at the sound of Rhythm’s voice and turned around to see Rhythm and Minsung standing in the hallway, staring into the bedroom.

“I may or may not have gone a teensy bit overboard,” Sarang admitted.

Rhythm just gave slow nods of her head as she looked at it, taking in the wall decals, the furniture changes, the bright colors, everything.

“When did you buy all of this?” Rhythm stepped into the room, feeling like if she moved too fast, whatever world she stepped into would disappear. 

Minsung, however, ran in but for the same reason. 

“I may have roped in my brothers, Sehyuk oppa, Byungjoo oppa, Hyun Ho oppa, and Dongsung oppa to help me move stuff around and carry stuff in but once all the old furniture was out and the boxes of new ones were in, I kicked them out and did all of this on my own,” Sarang said, going over to the bed and fixing the pillows.

Minsung made his way over to the kid-sized desk and kid-sized bookcase that it was next to and got a closer look at all the contents.

Rhythm sighed before looking at Sarang, “You could’ve at least asked me to help you with decorating. I can see the bruises on your shins from the ladder hitting you.”

“I thought you were against it all,” Sarang moved to examine the nightstand for dust.

“Yeah well it seems like everything is moving forward and you two are getting serious so I might as well just help you instead,” Rhythm sighed. “Besides, I’ve always wanted a nephew.” 

Sarang rolled her eyes at this but there was a small smile playing at her lips, “Nothing is getting serious between Sanggyun and I. But Jiwoo has been wanting to spend the night here a lot more these last few weeks and I feel bad by how non-child friendly this whole place was.”

“It’s so ing cute! I love this!” Minsung exclaimed, shocking his two friends.

“Oh , I forgot you were here for a second.” Rhythm breathed out, hand to her chest.

“Sorry, I was just taking it all in. And Sarang, don’t worry! You and Sanggyun will become serious eventually. I mean, what other girls would be so nice to his kid? Like, seriously? You’re probably the only girl who has shown any interest in him ever since he became a dad and if he were smart, he would hold on to that.” Minsung opened the toy box and looked inside.

“Minsung’s got a point. But enough of that, let’s all go and get something to eat and you can tell us all about everything that has been going on.” Rhythm grinned, wrapping an arm around Sarang before pulling it back with a grossed out look.

“After you shower.”

Sanggyun would occasionally look up to see how Jiwoo was doing and grin when he saw Jiwoo playing with his group of friends. This park was always their go-to meaning that the same kids always played there so Jiwoo had a group of friends that he always played with. The parents were all a lot older than Sanggyun but they were very helpful and welcomed him to their parent squad with open arms. He was even part of a group chat with the moms. They were all nice, a bit of gossipers, but it was fun being part of their group. On the Sundays that Sanggyun would get off and wasn’t too tired from bartending, they would all go to a kid’s café or something and sit around and talk while the kids played.

“Sanggyun, a little birdie told us some interesting news,” Sanggyun looked over at the leader of the group.

“What news, noona?” Sanggyun wondered, taking notice of the other moms sharing a look.

“Well that you’ve been getting close with a special someone,” The moms all shared a little giggle and Sanggyun could feel his ears turning red as he saw the knowing look the leader gave him.

“And did that bird tell you who this someone was?”

“Shin Sarang!” The youngest of the moms—but she was still a bit older than Sanggyun—said. It caused the leader to smack her arm.

“Yah! Bo Mi! We said we would go about this calmly!”

“Well, you were taking too long!”

“Ji Young noona, it’s fine,” Sanggyun was quick to de-escalate the fight that was bound to happen.

“Yes, I’m friends with Sarang. We went to the same school and reconnected a few months ago. Jiwoo really likes her and she really likes Jiwoo. She’s really good with him too,” Sanggyun explained.

“But I thought she studied abroad for high school and went to rich, private schools before high school,” Bo Mi said, going through her information about celebrities that have accumulated over the years.

“We were at the same high school for a year. Bo Mi noona, how do you know all of that?” Sanggyun would be lying if he said he wasn't a little weirded out. Bo Mi just shrugged as she adjusted her napping daughter in her arms.

“Shin Sarang lived the life that I’ve always wanted. She comes from money, she models, comes from money. No one messed with her and she had all this power,” Bo Mi said, her grip on her daughter relaxing a bit as she began to daydream. It caused Sanggyun and another one of the moms to reach over and push her arm close to her.

“Sorry,” Bo Mi snapped out of her dream and hugged her daughter close. Sanggyun couldn’t help but chuckle as he shook his head.

“But keeping up with celebrities was always a hobby of mine. Shin Sarang was just someone to keep up with easier. I mean, she was in the tabloids every week. Every other week if she was on a streak of good behavior. I know all about her family and even some of the conspiracy theories,” Bo Mi grinned. Her grin grew wider when she noticed all the moms plus Sanggyun leaning closer.

“Conspiracy theories?” One of the moms asked, her voice lowering in volume.

“You might have heard of them, Sanggyunie,” Bo Mi said, turning to the lone dad in their group. Sanggyun just shook his head because he, in fact, hasn’t.

“It’s one that has been going the longest. It’s the one that so many people still wonder about. The Shin family always talks about the conspiracy theories and disproving them but this is one that they haven’t touched,” Bo Mi started.

“When Shin Sarang, Shin Yooncheol, and Shin Jiho were children, there was a time that no one heard anything from them. There was no news and at some point, their schools were asking about them. No one knew what happened and it wasn’t until word got out that they were being rushed to a hospital,” The group gasped and murmurs went around of ‘what happened’ and ‘those poor children’.

“A nurse from that hospital went into a forum and said that the chances of the kids leaving the hospital alive were very slim. No one knows who the nurse is but they said they were one of the nurses assigned to care for the children. They didn’t say what was wrong or what happened but it took nearly a month for any news to come out. And a month after that for all three kids to leave the hospital with their dad. No one knows what happened but many people are saying it was a murder attempt,” Bo Mi explained.

“Who would want to murder children?” Another mom wondered.

“If I had a daughter who behaved like Shin Sarang, I would want to murder her too,” One mom muttered, earning a glare from Sanggyun and a reprimanding from Ji Young.

“Who knows. I’m just telling you what’s been going around in the forums. My guess is a family member or employee from the company. All three kids come from different mothers and at that time, was causing the value of the Shin family to go down,” Bo Mi said.

“But it’s been years and all three kids are alive and well so it was a failed attempt. Enough of that. Did you hear that the grocery store up the street is going to start selling organic cookies?” And that got the group buzzing.

“Noona!” Sanggyun turned at the sound of Jiwoo’s excited yell and began to look for what it was that caused that. He tried to ignore the curious chirps of the moms as they found what made Jiwoo so excited.

“Sanggyun, to your left,” Sanggyun turned in the direction that Ji Young instructed and grinned when he saw Sarang squatting down for Jiwoo who was running towards her.

“Omo! Is she coming this way? How’s my hair? How’s my makeup? I knew I should’ve worn jewelry!”

“Kim Bo Mi, you are something else.”

All the moms quickly stood up when Sarang began to approach their table with Jiwoo in her arms. Sarang bowed to them and they all bowed to her, “Hello. Am I interrupting something?” 

“No! We’re just talking. Just doing what moms do! Do you want to join us? Sanggyun probably asked you to meet him here. Are you two going on a date? My name is Kim Bo Mi! It’s so nice to meet you, Shin Sarang! I know everything about you! That billboard that you’re on is amazing! You’re so much prettier in person!” All the moms and Sanggyun gaped at Bo Mi.

“Don’t mind her! Sanggyun, if you need to go, it’s fine. We’ll catch you up in the group chat. Bye, Jiwoo. Don’t forget to remind your dad about the playdate,” Ji Young stood up so she could usher Sanggyun away, handing him his drawstring backpack and waving to Jiwoo who sat comfortably in Sarang’s arms.

Sanggyun said his goodbye’s to the moms as he stood up and pushed Sarang away from the group.

“I’m so sorry about her. She’s uh, a big fan,” Sanggyun explained as he and Sarang walked out the park, Jiwoo walking between them and holding each of their hands.

Sarang couldn't help but chuckle, still trying to figure out how to respond to Bo Mi.

“Uh, yeah that was kind of weird. I’ve never actually gotten that response before,” Sarang admitted.

“It was kind of…nice.” Sarang finally decided with a smile, looking at Sanggyun.

“Nice? You thought that reaction was nice?” Sarang nodded her head, her smile getting a bit bigger.

“Yeah! I’ve never been met with such enthusiasm. You need to remember that the public doesn’t really like me, Sanggyun. So if I meet someone, I’m usually given a negative reaction. Or a very fake reaction because of who my dad is. Either way, the way your friend greeted me was the best reaction I’ve ever gotten.” 

“I like you, noona.” Jiwoo looked up at her with a bright smile.

Sarang smiled down at him and reached over to tap his nose, “And I like you, Jiwoo.”

“What about those kid models that you worked with?” Sanggyun seemed to have confused Sarang with this.

“Sangdo hyung may have done some research on you when he found out that Jiwoo knew you. He found a forum that a bunch of parents of the kid models you worked with had written good things in.” Sanggyun grew sheepish, feeling like the weirdo now even if he himself hadn't done the research. Sarang was silent for a moment before laughing.

“You keep some special people close to you, Sanggyun. But you’re right. It’s easier to be accepted by kids when you’re me. And it’s easier for me to accept kids,” Sarang shrugged like it was no big deal.

“But enough of that depressing stuff. How’s your family doing? Your mom and sister have been wanting me to go over.”

A/N No words can explain how sorry I am for the late update! I feel so bad and ohmygosh! Thank you all so much for being patient!!! I love you all!